“You told me Natalie would be left with nothing.”
Grant’s expression hardened.
“She would have been.”
Vanessa recoiled as if he had struck her.
Detective Alvarez took her arm.
“You have the right to remain silent.”
As they walked out, Vanessa turned back.
“Dad.”
He did not move.
“I’m sorry.”
Dad’s hand rested at his side.
His fingers curled once.
“I believe you’re sorry,” he said. “I don’t know what you’re sorry for.”
She began to cry again.
The door closed behind her.
The house settled into silence.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
The officers moved through the rooms, photographing documents and collecting evidence. Harold sat at the kitchen table with his head in his hands. Dad stood in the living room, surrounded by the life he had almost lost.
I walked to the wall where the photographs had been removed.
A pale rectangle remained beneath each frame.
“You kept these,” I said.
Dad looked at the photographs beside the door.
“I couldn’t throw them away.”
“Even after all this?”
“Love doesn’t disappear just because it gets betrayed.”
His voice broke on the last word.
I turned toward him.
He pressed one hand against his chest.
I crossed the room and held him.
For a moment, he stood rigidly, as though he had forgotten how to be held.
